Undergarment.



R. HUELS.

UNDERGARMENT.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 24, I914.

Patented Dec. 17, 1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

WITNESSES R. HUELS.

UNDEHGARMENT,

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 24, I914 Patented Dec. 17, 1918.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

l/WT/VESSES X a? ijznyw Al. ATTORNEYS FEED PATENT @FFIQE.

ROBERT HUELS, 0F BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGZN'OR 'I'O STANDARD KNITTINGMILLS COMPANY, A CORPORATION, OF NEW YORK.

UNDERGARMENT.

' Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 17, 1918.

Application filed November 24, 1914. Serial No. 873,682.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ROBERT Home, a citizen ofthe United States, residing in the borougl. of Brooklyn, in the city andState of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inUndergarments, of which the following is a full, clear, and completedescription.

My invention relates to undergarments such as undershirts, undervestsand union suits, and is applicable equally to such garments whether theyare to be worn by men or by women.

The object of my invention is to PI'OVldG an undergarment which can beeasily and cheaply manufactured, and which will afford the greatestpossible comfort to the wearer.

Heretofore, in order to give elasticity to the shoulders of the garment,use has been made of the familiar elastic shoulder, or of the newerinset shoulder. Both of these garments have the disadvantage that theyare dificult and expensive to manufacture and also that they require anumber of seams, and are therefore not comfortable.

By my invention I obviate all of these disadvantages and at the sametime increase the elasticity of the garment at the shoulders. Iaccomplish this by making use of the fact that knitted fabric is verymuch more elastic in the direction transverse to the ribbing than it isin the direction of the ribbing. I therefore make the body of thegarment of vertically ribbed material. so that it will fit snugly aroundthe body and yield sufficiently in a horizontal direction, and I makethe shoulders of horizontally ribbed material thus giving to the garmentthe required vertical elasticity. I also combine the shoulders and armsin such a manner that the number of seams required is greatly reduced,thus reducing the cost of manufacture and adding to the comfort of thegarment.

In the accompanying drawing- Figure 1 is a front view of my improvedgarment.

Fig. 2 shows a development of the yoke and sleeve portion of my garment.

Fig. 3 shows this yoke and sleeve portion in the form in which it isattached to the body portion of the garment.

Figs. 4 and 5 are front views of gar-.

ments embodying my invention but differing slightly from the garmentshown in Fig. 1. Referring to Fig. 1, 1 designates the body portion ofthe garment which may be made from a tube of knitted material or in anyother suitable Way. The top of the body portion is out, front and back,along a curved line such as that indicated at 2, 3, 4, 5, thus formingthe two sleeve openings, and the piece 3, 4, 6 is cut out of the frontto provide the neck opening, communicating-.with the sleeve openings.The front of the garment is also slit vertically from the neck openingto provide the customary chest opening 7 The yoke and sleeve portion 8is cut from a single piece of material, as shown in F ig; 2. The curvededge 9, 10, of this portion is sewed to the curved edge 2, 3, 4, 5, ofthe back of the body portion, and the curved edges 11, 12 and 13, 14 aresewed to the edges 2, 3 and 4, 5, respectively of the front of the bodyportion. The sleeves are completed by the seams 15, 16, and the portion17 forms the yoke at the back of the garment. Thus it is seen that thesleeve portions extend over the shoulders and to the neck opening sothat they form not only the arms but also the shoulders of the garment,and in this particular embodiment they also form the yoke.

The sewing of the braid 18 around the neck opening prevents this openingfrom stretching out of shape, but does not interfere with the elasticityof the garment at the shoulders.

It is evident that the garment shown in Fig. 1 need not be out exactlyas described. For instance, the seams 2, 3 and 4, 5 need not be curved,but may be angular as indicated by the broken lines, and so arranged asto give the desired slope to the shoulders and sleeves.

In Fig. 4, I have shown my invention applied to a garment of the Dutchneck type. The sleeves 22, 23, are made of two separate pieces ofmaterial and extend to the neck opening of the garment so that thesesleeve portions form also the shoulders of the garment. The braid 24sewed around the neck opening and the upper portions of the arms serveto keep the garment in shape at this point.

The garment shown in Fig. 5 is very similar to that shown in Fig. 1, anda detailed desorption of it will therefore be omitted. It differs fromFig. 1 in that the sleeves 32, 33, are made of two separate pieces of material and that these sleeve portions do not extend across the back toform a yoke.

In each of the embodiments of my inven tion shown herein, the bodyportion of the garment is ribbed vertically, while the sleeve andshoulder portions are ribbed longitudinally of the sleeves, orhorizontally at the shoulders. The vertical ribbing of the body ortiongives the snug fit and the necemary iorizontal elasticity, and at thesame time prevents undue vertical stretching of the garment. The.horizontal ribbing at the shoulders, on the other hand, gives thenecessary vertical elasticity to the garment and permits freedom ofmovement of the body and shoulders of the wearer. This verticalelasticity is of special importance when my invention is applied tounion garments since considerable elasticity between the shoulders andcrotch is essential to comfort. It will be noted that the manufacture ofmy improved garments is very simple. For example, in the manufacture ofthe garment shown in Fig. l, but a sin le continuous seam is required tosecure t e arm and shoulder portion to the body portion of the garment,as compared With the four seams (one along each shoulder and one aroundeach armhole) necessary at the shoulders and armholes of the ordinarygarment. In the garments illustrated in Figs. 4: and 5, two shortseamsreplace the single continuous seam of the garment shown in Fig. 1'.

esser? This reduction in the number of seams, effected by my inventiongreatly reduces the labor and cost of manutacture and at the same timeadds to the comfort of the garment.

While I have shown herein several embodiments of my invention, 1 havenot attempted to show all the possible embodiments thereof, and it is tobe understood that many changes may be made in the garments shownwithout departing from the spirit of my invention.

What I claim is:

An under-garment comprising a vertically 45 ribbed 'tubular body portionpossessing horizontal elasticity throughout its entire length cut at thetop in a curved line, both front and back, to form the neck and sleeveopenings. a unitary sleeve portion secured to said body portion by asingle continuous seam extending substantially around the neck andsleeve openings constituting the yoke, shoulders and sleeves of thegarment, said sleeve portion being longitudinally ribbed so as to impartvertical elasticity thereto without detracting from the horizontalelasticity of the body portion.

ROBERT HUELS. Witnesses:

WALTER S. Jones, WM. M. EARL.

